


gotta get out while we're young

by crashing_meteors



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clone Troopers Speak Mando'a (Star Wars), Swearing, squads who betray together stay together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 06:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29995332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crashing_meteors/pseuds/crashing_meteors
Summary: Suddenly faced with the opportunity to drag his brothers into his treason or confess to his crimes, Sergeant Slick offers his men a choice. It's like they say, loyalty means everything to the clones.
Kudos: 5





	gotta get out while we're young

"Look. Let me have a few minutes with them first," Slick pleads, looking out over his unit and thinking as quickly as he can. "It's gonna hit 'em hard. They trust each other, and if one our own betrayed us-"

The commander and captain eye him suspiciously - well, Cody eyes him suspiciously. The look Rex is giving him is closer to murder.

"They'll be at each other's throats before you can even get a question out," Slick finishes, staring at Cody, praying (for the first time in his life) that his commander will listen and let him take the lead on this. Slick doesn't want to think about how this will turn out otherwise.

Cody considers him for a few agonizing moments, before glancing at Rex and shrugging.

"Actually, it might be good to keep them waiting," the commander says thoughtfully. "Build the pressure up - whoever it is might slip."

"Or it'll give them a chance to work on their alibis," the captain all but growls.

"You have my word - I won't let them talk amongst themselves, I'll just explain the situation and try to keep them calm," Slick offers, cool as anything. Cody, blessedly, nods at him. Even Rex seems to accept his promise.

"Don't bother keeping them calm," Cody says quietly as he passes by, "frankly, the more agitated the better."

Cody's right, of course, as he tends to be. Not about the spy, obviously, but about his men. Jester is sweating - actually sweating, tugging at the collar of his blacks the moment the door slides closed. Sketch and Punch look considerably less agitated, but nervous all the same, the former tapping his foot and the latter picking at his gloves. Gus is the only one who looks even remotely calm, watching the door curiously more than anything. And Chopper-

Chopper's staring right at him.

"What's this all about, Sarge?" the scarred clone asks darkly. Apart from Sketch's jittery foot, you could hear a pin drop in the barracks. A thousand and one excuses race their way through Slick's head, only to be dismissed just as quickly. He looks at each of his men in turn, at their varying shades of distress, and realizes all at once that he'd only asked for time to prepare his men so that they could better defend his treachery.

Damn his loyalty.

Slick checks himself over, quickly examines where Rex and Cody were previously standing, and when he finds no bugs, he heaves a great sigh.

"What this is about, is that Commander Cody and Captain Rex are loyal to their Jedi first, and their men second," Slick says tiredly, pulling up a chair and seating himself opposite his unit, gesturing for all of them to sit as well. They stare at him, their faces somewhere between surprise and outrage, but they keep quiet.

"I'm not much better," Slick amends quickly. "I put myself first, and our brothers paid for it. I'm not doing that anymore."

"Slick," Sketch says, a disbelieving half-smile on his face, "you alright? I think you need to get some sleep-"

"Let the man speak," Chopper says, expression unreadable. Sketch's smile drops abruptly.

"Our plan of attack was leaked to the Separatists today - that's why we were overrun. The commander and the captain are going to come in here and interrogate each of you about your whereabouts today, after the ambush," Slick explains, chest somehow impossibly heavy and sickeningly tight all at once. "They have evidence that one of us is a spy for the Separatists. They're going to try and trip you up, they're going to hang on to every word, they'd like for you to turn against one another if it means finding the traitor."

"I won't allow it," Slick says. "I'm the one they're looking for. I won't have you five ripping each other apart for nothing."

They fall deathly silent. They're so quiet for so long, in fact, that Slick begins to panic, sure that Cody and Rex will stroll in, assuming the men have been made aware of the situation. 

"So what are we supposed to do?" Punch asks at last, and they're all looking at him, all of them still waiting for orders. His stomach hasn't stopped twisting since Rex and Cody showed up, and now it's doing somersaults. Slick leans back in his chair in his best imitation of a man at ease with himself.

"It's your choice. Either you tell Cody and Rex what I told you," Slick answers, and his throat is so dry he feels like he's choking on the words. "Or you trust me when I tell you I can get us out of this hell for good, so long as you keep quiet. I'll vouch for all of you either way."

Gus opens his mouth to speak, but the door opens with a hiss as Cody and Rex reenter the barracks, and he promptly snaps it shut again. Fortunately, the superior officers are too busy looking to Slick for the go-ahead, and they don't catch the movement. Everyone moves to stand, but Cody holds up his hand.

"Might as well get comfortable," Cody tells them, his voice icy. "We'll be chatting for a while."

Slick doesn't know how he maintains his composure throughout the interrogation. He elects not to get up from his seat, afraid his legs will turn to jelly the moment he tries to stand. Jester, then Sketch, then Punch each diligently report their activity, and none of them so much as mention Slick. He draws a blank when it comes to developing a cover story of his own -but if one of them decides to give him up, it's a moot point anyway.

"Doc's got all the records there, if you want to check," Gus is saying, but Slick notices far too late that the trooper's eyes keep sliding over towards him as he speaks. Rex and Cody catch it almost immediately, frowning deeply at Slick.

"You got something to say to the sergeant there, Gus?" Rex says, and it's more of a question than a statement. Slick's hands don't feel right - his fingers are sticky.

"N-no. No, sir, I mean no, sir," Gus says, uncharacteristically clumsy. Rex crosses his arms and stares the trooper down while Cody makes his way over to Slick. Slick tries to flex his leg muscles a little, hoping they'll find the will to work.

"Kid, this isn't a game," Cody says gravely, but even though he's speaking to Gus, his eyes don't leave Slick. He doesn't need to intimidate the trooper - Rex is doing a fine job of that. "I'd suggest you tell us what you know, or we'll make you tell."

"Commander," Slick says suddenly, all of his strength returning at once as he manages to come to a stand without collapsing, "leave the kid alone, I'll tell you everything."

"No," Chopper says, standing as well. "No, Commander, it's my fault-"

"Chopper," Slick hisses warningly, but it comes out as more of a gasp, because of all his men, of all the ones to take his fall - Chopper?

"Sit down, both of you," Cody commands, laying a hand on Slick's shoulder and pushing down. Slick's too shocked at Chopper's outburst to notice how his unit tenses at the action.

"Slick's covering for me," Chopper explains as he sits back down, reaching under his pillow. Rex's and Cody's hands go to their blasters immediately, but Chopper merely pulls out a crude necklace.

"Battle droid fingers," Rex announces, and Slick feels like he's having a heart attack. Is this what a heart attack feels like?

"Sarge caught me stringing 'em together. He followed me to the south exit, said I was acting strange," Chopper tells them, and the lie sounds so natural Slick almost believes it himself. "Put me on 'fresher duty for a few standard months. When he said you'd be interrogating us, I panicked, and he told us he'd make sure I didn't get caught."

Cody and Rex look over at Slick, and he manages to twist his face into something reasonably resembling shame. Behind them, Chopper glares at Gus, almost like he's daring him to say something.

"He's a good soldier," Slick tells them, desperately wanting some water. "Didn't want his career to be ruined for something we've all done one time or another."

"I saw them heading back from the south exit later on," Jester says, and fortunately he's generally nervous enough that the way his voice shakes isn't the most obvious tell in the world - it just seems like run-of-the-mill behavior for Jester. "They passed me when I was in the armory."

"Well, that's just perfect," Rex says, snatching the trophy out of Chopper's hands, "but something doesn't add up, because you're the only unit with access to these terminals."

"How do you even know it was a brother?" Punch pipes up. "Droids can access the computers, too, they can bypass security protocols. Maybe a seppie clanker got in-"

"We gave chase to someone - a human someone - who we lost at the mess hall," Cody says, clearly frustrated. "And when we got inside, it was only brothers-"

"You lost them at the mess hall?" Sketch asks, and Slick is pretty sure Cody must have shot him and he's in some weird pre-death dream state, because his men are the best, and the best don't do stuff like this. They don't risk everything for their traitor sergeant, right? "So did you actually see them go inside?"

"They couldn't have gone anywhere else," Rex says angrily, voice rising. "The traitor is in this room-"

"All due respect, sirs," Gus says quietly, "but we've given you our alibis. You're wasting your time here."

Slick trained with Rex on Kamino. Different batches, of course, but they graduated at the same time. He's never been exactly happy, but he's not the explosive type either. Slick can remember once, maybe twice, when Rex got well and truly angry back on their homeworld, and even then he just walked it off.

Slick is fairly certain Rex is going to beat the shit out of Gus.

The tension is broken by the crackling of comm static - the generals have returned.

"Let's go, old boy," Cody says quietly, and Rex nods to him stiffly. Then, to the room at large Cody says, "We'll be monitoring the computers - all of them. Remaining loyal to one another is admirable, but in doing so you're betraying every single one of us and everything we stand for."

The barracks door slides shut as they leave, and the only thing louder than the hydraulic hiss is the immense sigh Jester lets out.

"They're going to murder us," Punch says, holding his head in his hands.

"I don't know about us, but they're definitely gonna murder Gus," Sketch agrees, sitting straight up and blinking rapidly as if in shock.

"They'll murder all of us if we don't get the hell out of here," Chopper snaps, before jabbing a furious finger at Slick. "You - you promised you could get us out. You better be ready to make good on that right now, or I'm turning you in."

"Are you serious?" Jester asks him, still hyperventilating a little. "After everything we just went through, you want to turn him in?"

"He still killed our brothers," Gus mutters, voice murderous as he steadfastly refuses to meet Slick's eyes. "I say, if he doesn't live up to his word, we kill him ourselves."

"Surprise, surprise," Chopper growls, and unlike Gus, he hasn't stopped staring straight at Slick, "I agree with Gus for once."

Slick pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath in, counting to five. He lets the air out just as slowly, rubs his eyes, cracks his knuckles for good measure.

"Okay," Slick says at last, "getting the six of us off Christophsis won't be easy, but we do have one advantage I didn't."

"And what's that?" Gus asks, finally meeting his eyes. Slick grins at him, feeling almost manic.

"You're pals with Hawk, right?"

-

-

-

The sarge is acting weird, and they all know it.

Well, weirder, anyway. This whole day has been kind of a shitshow, but Slick seems particularly antsy now - even worse than when the captain and commander had been interrogating them.

Cody and Rex assigned roughly a dozen guards outside their barracks, so naturally, their only option was the vents. And then, Slick had them hide on Hangar B in a storage container of all things, while Chopper cursed him out and Sketch moaned about claustrophobia. Punch just wants to get the hell off this planet, and their chances are dwindling by the second.

"She's late," Slick hisses, but it comes out as more of a whine. He keeps glancing between his holopad and the crack in the container's opening. It's a miracle no one's come after them yet, although Slick had been smart enough to leave a recording of them arguing playing on one of the astromechs (apparently, he had several samples to choose from). 

"You said that already." 

"Who is she?"

"You sure you've turned off the location on that thing?"

"Shut up - it's not, it doesn't matter - yes, Chopper, I turned the location off," Slick says irritably, holding the device so tightly Punch is sure it will snap in half.

"We have a right to know who this contact is, sir," Gus says in the same deathly quiet voice he's been using all day. Punch has never seen his fellow trooper like this before - Gus is a good soldier, but he's friendly, too. Amicable. All of them had him pegged for ARC training, until now, of course.

"She's a separatist," Slick mutters, not meeting any of their eyes. "That's all you need to know."

"The Sith?" Jester asks nervously, shifting around and elbowing Sketch by accident. Slick hesitates before nodding once, stiffly. The storage container collectively groans.

"Shut up, shut up," Slick whispers, dropping the pad to cover the mouths of those closest to him. Punch, sitting directly at the sergeant's left, instinctively licks the hand that covers his mouth. Slick gives him the most scandalized look Punch has seen in a long time, which is impressive, given the events of today.

"You fucking idiot," Chopper groans, slamming his head against the container wall.

"But she paid you already right?" Jester says hopefully. Everyone turns to look at the sergeant, who appears to have begun to sweat. He does not answer the question.

"Sarge, she paid you, right?" Jester says again, voice rising with panic. "You have the credits, right?"

"Yes," Slick snaps, but it comes out probably less confident than intended. "I have...half of the credits."

"Half?" Jester squeaks.

"You fucking idiot," Chopper says again, and this time it sounds like a hysterical laugh.

"We're gonna die," Sketch groans around Slick's still hovering hand. He looks sickly, swaying side to side, and Punch comes to the sinking realization that if they don't get out of this blasted container soon, things are gonna get a whole lot less comfy.

"Forget the Sith," Punch says quickly, before Chopper and the sarge can devolve into another petty argument. "You mentioned Hawk, why don't we send Gus and Sketch to go find him?"

"You want me to convince the best pilot in the 501st to abandon his men?" Gus scoffs, crossing his arms. "I thought Tricky Slicky would've been the best choice."

"He needs to stay here, in case the Sith comes," Punch argues, and he tries to keep his voice steady even as Sketch puts his head between his knees, allowing Jester to rub his back soothingly, "but if you don't get Sketch out of here we're gonna be twice as obvious since we'll all be covered in vomit.

The mere word has Sketch dry-heaving. Gus rolls his eyes so hard Punch is sure it must hurt, but the trooper peaks outside regardless, scanning for activity.

"Come on, Gus grunts, lifting the lid and hopping out. Sketch practically squeals in relief, scrambling out of the container far less gracefully than his counterpart. Once they're safely out of the container, Gus lowers the top slowly, plunging them in darkness once more.

"I'll knock four times, like this," he tells them, tapping out a little rhythm on the metallic sides. "If we make it back, I mean." Slick huffs an angry little sigh and returns to staring intently at his holopad.

"What if she doesn't show?" Punch eventually asks after several minutes of silence. Slick narrows his eyes.

"Then I'll hunt her down and kill her myself," he spits out. Punch can't help it - he grins at the reply.

-

-

-

"No questions asked? You've gotta be kidding me, Gus."

Hawk is busy repairing his ship after the hectic rescue from earlier and doesn't seem remotely fazed by Gus and Sketch's presence. Good. News hasn't spread too far yet

"Trust me on this," Gus implores him, but sounding sincere is tricky when he doesn't even feel it himself. "If we don't get a ride out of here, we're fucked."

"You expect me to just give you one of the freighters?" Hawk asks him incredulously. He glances between Gus and Sketch, the latter of the two tilting his head up towards the sky in a not-at-all subtle effort to avoid looking at Hawk. "No way I can swing that."

"No, that's not-" Gus shrugs his shoulders irritably. He's going to fucking kill Slick. "Look, you know the guys at the spaceport, right? If they could get us passage off-world..."

Hawk goes very still, looking again between the two troopers, and then leveling Gus with a glare. Gus glares right back.

"What kind of trouble are you in, anyway?" Hawk says quietly. Sketch shuffles a little, looking everywhere but at the other two troopers.

"No questions asked, remember?" Gus replies in a clipped tone. Hawk mutters under his breath before dragging Gus by the elbow away from Sketch, back behind the docked ship.

"Look, _vod,_ what you're talking about - it sounds like desertion," Hawk implores him. Gus's expression doesn't change, and Hawk curses. "Gus, come on, you're better than this-"

"It's not about me," Gus says rigidly, cutting the pilot off. "It's about my brothers. My squad. Can you understand that?" Hawk doesn't seem convinced, crossing his arms and looking back towards Sketch skeptically. Gus reaches out to grip Hawk's shoulder.

"Please, _vod,"_ Gus says quietly. "Consider it a debt repaid - _dar’entye."_

Hawk deflates, arms hanging at his side. They have history together, Gus and Hawk - Gus covered for his brother more times on Kamino than he can count. Had it not been for him, Hawk might not have made it beyond cleaning duty. It's always gone unspoken on Gus's part, no matter how many times Hawk thanked him, but desperate times...

"I'll see what I can do," Hawk mutters, and Gus hates himself for what he's doing to his brother, what he's doing to all his brothers, what he's becoming in the name of his frankly ill-fitting squad.

And yet, even now, in his bitterness, he will not betray them.

"When do you need the transport by?" Hawk asks him quietly, returning to his broken ship and pointedly ignoring Sketch's curious expression.

"Tonight," Gus answers, and when Hawk gapes at him, Gus holds up a hand.

"Please, _vod,"_ he says again in desperation. "Transport tonight, no questions asked - _dar’entye."_

Hawk grumbles excessively, waving Gus away with a menacing gesture from his harris-wrench, and Gus yanks Sketch away from the hangar.

"Don't," Gus hisses when Sketch opens his mouth to ask questions, and Sketch rolls his eyes, digging in his heels and forcing Gus to look at him properly.

"If you hate us so much, why are you helping?" Sketch demands. Gus stares at his boots.

"I don't hate you, _vod,"_ Gus mumbles, barely loud enough through the vocoder. He says something else, too quiet for Sketch to pick up, but Sketch appears to accept the answer, walking beside Gus again.

"You know the Sith isn't gonna pay him, right?" Sketch says helpfully.

"Yeah," Gus replies, feeling absolutely exhausted and wondering how the fuck this is his life now, "I know."

-

-

-

The Sith never shows, and Jester can't decide who will kill Slick first: Chopper or Slick. Gus is up there as well, but he seems to be enjoying Slick's suffering, so Jester's willing to bet he'd rather see it drawn out than kill the sarge himself. Jester just wants _something_ to happen, because his whole body vibrates with nervous energy, and Sketch is already starting to look queasy again.

Gus's comlink goes off, echoing in the container, and everyone jumps. Gus reads the message and then looks around at them grimly.

"We'd better go. Hawk still doesn't know the details but the Commander has people searching for us."

"Maybe we should wait it out?" Jester suggests, hating how shaky his voice sounds, but shit, today's been the most nerve-wracking day of his life. "We won't get far without running into anyone, and they'll know who to look for."

"Wait, shit, here," Slick digs around in his pack and pulls out clippers. He turns them on and begins to shave his head with absolutely no preamble.

"We need to blend in, much as we can, with or without buckets," he explains over the buzz of the clippers. "Gus, Punch, Jester get rid of the stupid goatees. And I don't know that we should head out now either."

"It's not stupid," Jester mumbles, reaching up to rub his facial hair defensively.

"Sarge, she's not showing up," Punch says. Slick pauses his shave momentarily to open his mouth to argue, but he shuts it promptly and resumes his haircut. "They don't know we're up here yet. We shave, and then we get out while we can."

"Hawk's man at the spaceport can get us a ship. Don't know much about it but it's civilian," Gus tells them. "I can fly it."

"So can I," Chopper and Slick say at the same time. Jester sighs, too loudly, as the three of them glare at one another. They turn to look at him.

"Can you stop arguing for 10 minutes?" Jester asks them. "Or at least 'til we're off-world?"

He could cut the tension with a knife. Then, in a very pathetic attempt at an olive branch, Slick hands Gus the clippers. Gus takes them without sneering or making a snide comment and shaves his weird half goatee (if anyone's facial hair is stupid, it's Gus). He passes the clippers in silence to Punch, who in turn passes it to Jester once he's finished.

Jester gulps. They're really doing this.

"I should've known not to trust that snake," Slick says bitterly as they climb silently out of the crate. Jester watches as their sergeant takes one last, longing look at the empty hangar, and then turns to face his men.

"Alright boys," Slick says, standing tall, and Jester feels himself stand at attention instinctively. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

-

-

-

Sketch is very, very glad to be out of that fucking box. Honestly, out of all of Slick's crimes, that's the one he's least likely to forgive. He _told_ the sarge he didn't like small spaces, and Slick always respected it, but suddenly one act of treason has them cowering in the tiniest fucking space Sketch has seen in his life.

The spaceport, at least, is open, and, thanks to the campaign, relatively empty. The journey had been surprisingly simple - Chopper had stayed in the middle of the pack, just in case helmets came off for some reason, but the rest of them had just looked like a bunch of shinies reporting for duty. Sketch has to wonder if Slick's no-paint rule was made for this very reason.

They find Hawk's man is a woman, actually, dressed in greasy overalls and watching them warily with tired eyes. Slick walks up to her confidently, and then hesitates, looking to Gus, who rolls his eyes for the 40th fucking time.

"I'm guessing your Hawk's friends," the woman says. Gus's expression softens a touch for the first time all day - Sketch had always envied Gus's way with civvies.

"I'm sorry for the trouble," Gus says sincerely. "We appreciate your help."

"Yeah," says the woman, still mistrustful despite Gus's friendliness. "Not often troopers want civilian ships."

"Desperate times," Gus says with an awkward shrug, a little less confident now.

"This some sort of top-secret thing?" the woman asks. Gus flounders, unable to formulate a response, so the woman goes on. "Just 'cause, being quiet about risky crap like this. It can get expensive."

It's almost funny, the way they all turn to look at Slick as if on command. Okay, you know what, Sketch thinks it's fucking hilarious.

"The Republic thanks you," Slick says, a vein on his forehead about ready to burst. "But unfortunately, our service is unpaid-"

"Guess I should go to one of those fancy Jedi, then, tell 'em what I've done for you, so I can be properly compensated," the woman says coldly, crossing her arms. "Or you can pay me now, like Hawk said you would, and I'll forget this ever happened. Let's stop playing around, boys, I got mouths to feed."

Now, everyone's head turns to look at Gus for conveniently leaving out that tiny detail, but Gus looks positively baffled, and Sketch has to bite his knuckles to keep from laughing because this whole situation is absolutely ridiculous. Suddenly Slick's fingers twitch at his side, where his blaster rests, and everything feels a lot less funny.

"What will keep you quiet?" Sketch asks suddenly, stepping carefully between Slick and the woman. She grimaces at Sketch but seems to think his question over.

"Five thousand."

"No," Slick growls.

"Slick -" 

"No," Slick says again. "That's half our credits, we can't start over with five thousand-"

"Five thousand," the woman repeats, "for a fully fueled, fully stocked, unmarked ship, sonic shower and all. It's a damn steal, you're just lucky I need the cash. You gonna pay me or what?"

Slick's hand twitches again and Sketch almost tackles him, but the sarge just curls it into a fist.

"Fine," Slick says, relaxing his hand and tapping furiously at his holoscreen. "But just because it'd be too messy to get rid of you." Everyone gapes at him, and Gus makes a noise of outrage, but the woman just smirks.

"Figured as much," she says smugly, waiting for the ding on her holoscreen to signify the transfer. "You boys are always so pleasant, after all."

She leaves with little more than a wave of the hand, disappearing out a back door, and Sketch can't stop himself from shoving Slick furiously.

"What was that?" he demands. Slick raises an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Relax. It was a joke," Slick says dismissively, walking up the boarding ramp and motioning for the squad to follow.

"Considering your track record, we weren't sure," Gus snaps. Slick stiffens at the comment, but he keeps walking.

"You're gonna have to get used to hard decisions if you want to be free," Slick calls over his shoulder. Sketch glances around at his brothers, all of whom are risking their lives for their asshole sergeant and the chance at independence.

"I am not taking orders from that _shabuir_ anymore," Chopper mutters, breaking the spell of hesitancy and ascending the boarding ramp. "Let's go before they get the firing squad over here."

-

-

-

_"Here," says a familiar voice. Chopper looks up and quite suddenly there's a hand shoving something in his face. He jerks backward on his hospital bed._

_"Shit, sorry," Slick mutters, sitting down on Chopper's good side and keeping his hand a more reasonable distance away. "Forgot about the eye."_

_"The giant fucking bandage on the side of my head didn't clue you in?" Chopper asks, and Slick throws back his head and laughs._

_"Just take the candy, dipshit," Slick says, depositing a few round and hard...somethings into Chopper's hand. Chopper examines it with his good eye, trying to discern what exactly is getting his fingers all sticky._

_"You eat it," Slick tells him._

_"I know that," Chopper grumbles, popping one of the candies into his mouth. It's sweet but not tooth-achingly so, like those Maraffa twigs Punch snuck them once had been. Chopper bites down and finds it produces a satisfying crunch._

_"Candied bofa fruit," Slick explains. "Old friend of mine loved 'em. You remind me of him, sometimes."_

_"Was he a reject, too?" Chopper asks, munching on another candy and feeling extremely self-pitying at the moment. The explosion had been his fault - he'd charged on ahead without thinking, even with Slick screaming at him not to. The medics had no issue informing Chopper he was lucky to be alive at all._

_"Yeah, he was," Slick says with a strange note of affection. "Then he became an ARC trooper." Chopper has to turn his head fully to look at Slick, who does not appear to be teasing at all._

_"You five were the best Kamino had to offer," Slick tells him seriously. "I still believe that."_

_"Sarge, I fucked up the most basic-"_

_"You walked headfirst into an explosion and survived, trooper," Slick says, holding a hand up and leaving no room for argument. "Tells me you're made of pretty tough stuff. We'll need it, with the bullshit they ask us to..."_

_Slick sighs heavily, rising from the bed and clapping Chopper on the shoulder._

_"You're not a reject, Chopper," Slick says without looking at him. "You're one of my men, now. We look out for each other."_

"We'll be landing on Nal Hutta soon," the sergeant says awkwardly, breaking apart Chopper's memory. Chopper can't figure out if the present is tainting his recollections, or if Slick really did always look that tired.

"Good place to disappear," Chopper says from the bunk he's chosen and not looking at Slick. He can feel the man shifting uncomfortably in the doorway, though, so Chopper huffs and faces him. "What?"

"Why'd you cover for me?" Slick blurts out. Chopper's hand instinctively goes to his scars, but he manages to hide the action by rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't know," Chopper lies. "Guess I wanted out as much as you did."

"Yeah," Slick agrees, sounding entirely unconvinced. The unsaid things hang heavy in the air between them, so Chopper plucks one out and lays it bare.

"Did you clue us in because you needed Hawk?" Chopper asks evenly. Slick's jaw drops, and Chopper cannot help the flare of victory he feels when he realizes Slick is hurt by the notion.

"No, I, I just - " Slick laughs, suddenly, bitter and hoarse. "I didn't even fucking think of Hawk, or anyone else. How could I, after everything I did? Wasn't gonna drag any of you with me."

 _So why did you?_ Chopper almost asks, and then he realizes that Slick didn't ask them to betray the Republic, or even lie for him. He gave them the choice, and they chose...whatever this is. This conversation could go in circles forever, if they wanted it to. Chopper really doesn't want it to.

"Guess this is it then," Chopper, says, lying flat on his back and placing his hands behind his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Six clones traveling together while the Republic searches for us Seppie traitors?" Chopper points out. "Not very smart, is it?" Slick doesn't say anything for a little while.

"Yeah," he says at last, sounding...just sounding fucking sad. Slick's shadow shifts and he moves to leave the room. Chopper hates himself for feeling guilty, but there it is.

"Guess it wouldn't hurt," Chopper adds before he can stop himself, "if we looked out for each other, at first. We'd have to really disappear, though. I mean vanished."

He can practically hear Slick smiling, can feel the way it radiates off his person.

"Like you said," Slick agrees, "Nal Hutta's good for that."

**Author's Note:**

> This all started because I noticed that Chopper was extremely slow to rat Slick out, considering that Cody and Rex went through every clone in the squad before questioning him, and even then, Chopper only brought up his suspicions against Slick when he was wrongly accused. Now, I know this choice was for story-telling purposes and the dramatic reveal, but I choose to believe it was actually because Chopper was loyal to Slick and willing to cover for him, until Slick threw him under the bus. It made me wonder what might have happened had Slick actually gotten to talk to his boys - they were the best, after all, according to Rex.
> 
> -
> 
> Mando'a translations:
> 
>  _Vod_ \- Brother (also sister or mate). AKA the first Mando'a word I ever learned, and the one everyone knows.
> 
>  _Dar'entye_ \- No longer a debt. I certainly hope that's what it means, anyway. I had to try and figure out Mando'a, which is always fun and confusing.
> 
>  _Shabuir_ \- A strong Mandalorian insult, and the first time I've used a Mando'a insult in a fic. I like writing the clones as avid sweaters, and I tend to think the impact strikes more firmly when you recognize the swear, but I also think there are certain cases where it's just one of those things only your close friends would understand. When Chopper says this, everyone listening knows exactly what he's trying to get at, you know?
> 
> -
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. 
> 
> Title from Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run".


End file.
